Incessant rainfall triggers landslides, leaves trail of destruction in the Hills

Amitava Banerjee, MP, 3 Oct 2024, Darjeeling: Incessant rain in the Darjeeling Hills and Kalimpong since Wednesday has left a trail of destruction with numerous landslides reported from all over the Hills. 

A 78-year-old died in a landslide in the Sukhia block of Darjeeling. Road connectivity was heavily damaged owing to the landslides all over the Hills. National Highway 55 connecting Siliguri to Darjeeling witnessed a major landslide near Jorebunglow, around 9 km from Darjeeling town. 

78-year-old Raghubir Rai of Bujuwa Gaon in the Pulungdung GP of the Sukhia Block was buried by a landslide. 

“Raghubir Rai was in the kitchen of his house when the landslide struck on Thursday morning. Search operations by local residents resulted in his corpse being dug out later. 

Following a post mortem at the Darjeeling Hospital his dead body was handed over to his family members,” stated Uday Dewan, GTA Sabhasad for the Sukhia-Maneybhanjyang Constituency. 

He used to live with his son, grandson and daughter-in-law in the house. The rest of the family members are safe and have been shifted to a safer location. “Our constituency is the worst affected with numerous landslides. 

There are numerous landslides on the State highway from Sukhia to Mirik. We are working in close coordination with the PWD and the forest department. 

Earth movers have been brought in to clear the debris and restore the road at the earliest,” stated Dewan. 

“We have had numerous landslides. Many houses and roads have been damaged. Officials of the district administration visited the family of deceased Rai. We are trying to process the ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh by Friday to hand it over to his family members,” stated Richard Lepcha, Sub Divisional Officer (SDO,) Darjeeling. 

A large stretch of the benching on National Highway 55 near Jorebunglow collapsed on Thursday morning leaving a narrow strip open to traffic. This resulted in serpentine jams on this busy thoroughfare. 

The National Highway 10 to Sikkim was closed for around two hours on Thursday when a landslide occurred in between Teesta and Chitrey. Traffic resumed after the debris was cleared. 

The popular tourist destinations of Rock Garden and Jamuney have been badly affected with numerous landslides on the roads to these spots along with the turbulent mountain rivers and springs overflowing, bringing down large deposits of silt and rocks. Roads to these places are closed to traffic. 

Landslides were reported from all over Darjeeling town and surrounding areas. “Landslides have been reported from Darjeeling railway station, Dali Fatak, Rajbari, Power House, Sharma Garage area, Labour office area and district Collectorate,” stated a source from the relief department. 

Landslides also occurred in the campus of Ramakrishna Mission located on Lebong Cart Road, Darjeeling. The recently constructed bridge on Baluabans below Singtom by residents has been partially damaged with huge silt deposition on the bridge. 

The Indian Meteorological Department has issued a ‘yellow’ heavy rainfall warning for Friday for Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur and Malda. It has issued an ‘orange’ very heavy rainfall warning for Alipurduar and Cooch Behar. 

Darjeeling recorded 175.4 mm of rainfall in 24 hours (recorded at 8.30 am on Thursday) with Kalimpong recording 86.9 mm. 

Courtesy & source- Millennium Post:

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/those-who-malign-bengal-are-insulting-their-birthplace-mamata-582036?infinitescroll=1